More brides, less legends at Atsuta-jingū
- Nagoya, Japan
- Apr 11, 2015
- 3 min read
Have you ever played the game "Ōkami"? It's one of my personal favourites. It's a Japanese game about the kami [Shinto goddess] Amaterasu, who has taken on the shape of a white wolf to save the country from darkness. In the first half of the game, you have to help a character named Susanoo slay the eight-headed serpent Orochi. After he has slain the beast, he receives the legendary sword「草薙の剣」 Kusanagi no Tsuguri. It's a beautiful, original and (almost) peaceful game in gorgeous sumi-e style. I highly recommend it!
But I'm not here to advertise games, of course. The thing is, I found out that this part of the game is based on an actual legend. The story is quite similar; the only difference is that Amaterasu did not help the god Susanoo slay「八岐の大蛇」Yamata no Orochi [Eight-Headed Serpent]. But according to Japanese folklore, Susanoo’s sword Kusanagi is very real. It is even one of the three Imperial Regalia of Japan. Fancy, huh? It is said to be kept in 「熱田神宮」Atsuta-jingū nowadays, a shrine in Nagoya. But it's not on display. Some people doubt it even exists, since no living person has been recorded seeing it. That’s not going to stop me from trying to sneak a peek, though!
Hajime-san remembered my request to see Atsuta-jingū, so we left early this morning and drove off to the shrine. I immediately noticed it wasn’t just any old shrine: the parking lot was full, it was pretty crowded and the grounds were bigger than I’d seen at any shrine up to now. When I went through the gate, I felt like I walked straight into a forest. The buildings weren’t even in sight yet. Instead, the place was entirely green with birds chattering everywhere. When we followed the path, we passed a wall of sake barrels – that must’ve been Susanoo’s doing, if the god is anything like the in-game character – and eventually ended up at the main buildings. For some reason we couldn’t enter them, though. While looking around the central square, it occurred to me that the place wasn’t just crowded with tourists. There were many Japanese people as well, and most of
them wore fancy outfits. It was at that moment that I saw a procession coming from one of the buildings. A Shinto wedding! Hajime-san laughed while I stared at the couple and their guests in awe and admiration. This was wasn’t what I came here to see, but I was happy to see it nonetheless! The couple looked amazing: the groom was wearing a traditional black attire, while the bride was wearing white, silky-looking kimono – a beautiful combination between traditional Japanese garments and modern, Western looks. Behind the couple walked a miko [shrine maiden], followed by a woman in a black kimono (who Hajime-san later told me was the bride’s mother) and all their guests.
While walking around the grounds, we spotted some other wedding couples. Some were full-on traditionally clothed, others were Western-clad, or even a mix like the one we saw first. It gave me a nice peek into the wedding preferences of the Japanese, and it even sparked a discussion between Hajime-san and me, because he thought it was sad that there were more and more Western weddings, while there were less traditional ones. I fully agreed since I’d love to see every country hold on to their own customs – it just took me a while to convince Hajime-san of that. Besides the wedding couples and their guests, we saw some other buildings I think belong to the shrine. Furthermore we saw some chickens. And apparently, that was all there was to the legendary Atsuta-jingū.
Disappointed? I guess, yes. Maybe I was wrong to expect so much of such a famous shrine, but on the other hand… it really wasn’t any different from any of the others, not in any way. I wonder what made it so famous. Would it be the sword? Ah yes, the sword! On our way out we came across a small building with a big sword on display. I couldn’t read the kanji, so I asked Hajime-san if this was the famous Kusanagi no Tsuguri. For some reason he kept saying it was, but it wasn’t, of course. It’s still fancy, but it’s not Kusanagi. So for me, there’s nothing particularly interesting about this place. I’ve seen smaller shrines way more spectacular than this. Atsuta-jingū – boo!
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